Juha Sjoeblom Profile
I have been interested in world heritage from year 2008 and I have visited sites since then whenever possible. I usually travel 3-5 times a year. My main areas of interest are Northern Africa, Middle East, Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia.
I'm an independent traveller and when travelling, I want to use public transport as much as possible. Since the sites are not always easy to reach, I’m curious how other travellers have got to them.
I’ll write reviews when I supposedly have some fresh point of view or when the site has only very few reviews. I also tell my overall feelings about the site and how I have travelled to it.
Recent Reviews Juha Sjoeblom
Qadisha Valley
Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 25-May-19
Site visited March 2019. Qadisha Valley was the site that I looked forward the most in Lebanon after Baalbek. And it didn’t disappoint my expectations. During my hike I visited three out of four of the main monasteries of the valley and saw some spectacular sceneries. In this review I focus only on the Qadisha Valley, not on the Cedars of God.
The dramatic and rugged Qadisha Valley is one of the oldest and most important early Christian monastic settlements. Valley formed a natural rampart which sheltered these early monastic communities. Maronite hermits found refuge in a multitude of almost inaccessible caves and rock-cut monasteries. Around these shelters the monks and hermits had turned the slopes into terraces to grow grain, grapes and olives.
Read OnQhapaq Ñan
Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 29-Dec-18
Site visited April 2018. I visited five inscribed sites of the Peruvian section of the Andean road network.
This WHS all about roads and archaeological sites associated with them. The Qhapaq Ñan road system is one of the most complex road infrastructures in the world. What makes it unique is its extreme geographical setting.
For some reason, this kind of sites are very intriguing for me. Whether it is Silk Roads, Grand Canal, Stećci or Struve, there is something like ’collect all the pieces together’ feeling. At first these inscriptions seem hard to grasp
Read OnCaral-Supe
Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 06-Oct-18
Site visited April 2018. For me getting to the World Heritage Site of Caral turned out to be agony and race against time but in the end it won over me.
I guess everything worth knowing about this site and its historical importance have been told already on the previous reviews so on my review I focus mainly on my trip to Caral.
My plan was to visit Caral on my way from Huaraz to Lima. I knew this could be a bit tight schedule for one day but I decided to give it a try. I left from Huaraz bus station at 9 AM and was at Barranca four hours later. The bus left me at some gas station outside the city centre so I had to walk quite a long distance with my large suitcase in the mid day heat. During my walk I tried to catch a taxi to Caral. The task proved to be very hard. There were only lots of mototaxis that tooted at me all the time. I thought that those are not suitable for my needs. I saw only few taxi cars and those were reserved. At some point I got tired of walking and trying to catch a taxi. Then I saw a hotel and went to the reception to ask about driver to Caral
Read OnChavin
Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 16-Jul-18
Site visited April 2018. After some more touristy sites in Peru, visiting Chavín was a pure pleasure: no crowds, souvenir sellers, touts and high entrance fees – just greenery, fresh mountain air, few tourists and, of course, a great site with nice museum.
Chavín de Huántar is located at the foothills of Cordillera Blanca mountain range at an elevation of 3200 [...]
Read OnRjukan / Notodden
Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 18-Jul-17
Site visited April 2017. Rjukan – Notodden industrial heritage site is located in the beautiful Norwegian landscape. Sometimes I found the landscapes more interesting than the industrial values. This site needs a bit of background research to really understand it.
There are plenty of industrial sites around Nordic countries. Some of them have been inscribed already: Falun, Engelsberg, Røros and Verla. The first question I had, what makes just this site worth of World Heritage status? What qualities it has that the other uninscribed Nordic industrial sites don’t have?
Read OnProfile Data
- Name
- Juha Sjoeblom
- Country
- Finland
- Most Impressive
- Medina of Fez, Lalibela
Recently Visited WHS
- Update 07.07.19
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Visited WHS
Rating StatsBukhara 5Istanbul 5Lalibela 5Petra 5Acropolis 4.5Baalbek 4.5Grand Canal 4.5Itchan Kala 4.5Medina of Fez 4.5Persepolis 4.5St. Petersburg 4.5Aksum 4Byblos 4Chavin 4Cracow 4Djémila 4Kotor 4Ping Yao 4Split 4Timgad 4Trier 4Tyre 4Agrigento 3.5Cuzco 3.5Dengfeng 3.5Island of Patmos 3.5Kairouan 3.5Kyiv 3.5L'viv 3.5Lima 3.5Pasargadae 3.5Persian Garden 3.5Qadisha Valley 3.5Qhapaq Ñan 3.5Rabat 3.5Sintra 3.5Vilnius 3.5Visby 3.5Volubilis 3.5Anjar 3Arles 3Avignon 3Belem 3Bryggen 3Butrint 3Corfu 3Delos 3Meknes 3Mostar 3Mtskheta 3Stećci 3Syracuse 3Tallinn 3Trogir 3Vienna 3Atapuerca 2.5Curonian Spit 2.5Gammelstad 2.5Jelling 2.5Luther Memorials 2.5Medina of Sousse 2.5Riga 2.5Shakhrisyabz 2.5Sheki 2.5Sulaiman-Too 2.5Tipasa 2.5Tower of London 2.5Yin Xu 2.5Kernavë 2Mir Castle 1.5Tiya 1.5Nesvizh 1Reviewed WHS
Visited TWHS
- Amalienborg and its district (T)
- Ancient Greek Theatres (T)
- Archaeological Complex of Pachacamac (T)
- Bagçesaray Palace of the Crimean Khans (T)
- Brooklyn Bridge (T)
- Casablanca, Ville du XXème siécle, carrefour d'influences (T)
- Central Park (T)
- City Walls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (T)
- Cultural Landscape of Canyon in Kamenets-Podilsk (T)
- Diocletian's Palace and the Historical Nucleus of Split (extension) (T)
- Historical Lisbon, Global City (T)
- Jame' (Congregational) Mosque of Esfahan (T)
- Jerash Archaeological City (Ancient Meeting Place of East and West) (T)
- Kyiv: Saint Sophia Cathedral with Related Monastic Buildings, St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (T)
- Levadas of Madeira Island (T)
- Monastery of St. Amenaprkich (New Julfa Vank) (T)
- Moulay Idriss Zerhoun (T)
- Nasqsh-e Rostam and Naqsh-e Rajab (T)
- Paimio Hospital (formerly Paimio Sanatorium) (T)
- Persepolis and other relevant buildings (T)
- Pombaline Lisbon (T)
- Rade de Marseille (T)
- Sarajevo - unique symbol of universal multiculture - continual open city (T)
- Site of the Retiro and the Prado in Madrid (T)
- Sites of Globalization (T)
- Surakhany, Atashgyakh (Fire - worshippers, temple - museum at Surakhany) (T)
- Tape Sialk (T)
- Tbilisi Historic District (T)
- The Caspian Shore Defensive Constructions (T)
- The historical surroundings of Crimean Khans' capital in Bakhchysarai (T)
- The Historical Village of Abyaneh (T)
- The Historical-Cultural Axis of Fin, Sialk, Kashan (T)
- The monastery of Noravank and the upper Amaghou Valley (T)
- The Persian House in Central plateau of Iran (T)
- The Tara National Park with the Drina River Canyon (T)
- The Zandiyeh Ensemble of Fars Province (T)
- Trakai Historical National Park (T)
- Zadar - Episcopal complex (T)
Reviewed TWHS
Top 50 Missing Sites
- Baikonur Cosmodrome / Cape Canaveral
- City of Herat
- Ensemble du site naturel de la région du Chouf avec les monuments et les sites
- Ephesus
- Fortified City of Famagusta
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Historic University Towns of Oxford and Cambridge
- Jebel Shams, Wadi Nakhur, and Wadi Ghul
- Major Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright
- Minoan palaces of Crete
- Panama Canal
- Pharaonic Temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu
- Railways of the Andes
- Silk Roads
- Svalbard
- Tempelhof Airport, Berlin
- Tobolsk
- Transiberian Railway
- Vatnajökull National Park
- Vers une architecture: Major Buildings of Le Corbusier
Top 200 WHS
- Isole Eolie
- Birka and Hovgarden
- L'Anse aux Meadows
- Brasilia
- Shibam
- Sana'a
- Old City of Jerusalem
- Rome
- Istanbul
- Venice and its Lagoon
- Camino Real
- Island of Gorée
- Grand Canal
- Qhapaq Ñan
- Silk Roads
- Moenjodaro
- Sukhothai
- Angkor
- Rock Art of Alta
- Altamira Cave
- Iguazu National Park
- Lake Baikal
- Victoria Falls
- Kenya Lake System
- Central Amazon Conservation Complex
- Works of Antoni Gaudí
- Nasca Lines
- Stonehenge
- Chichen-Itza
- Tikal National Park
- St. Petersburg
- Florence
- Tyre
- Site of Carthage
- Classical Gardens of Suzhou
- Wadi Al-Hitan
- Fasil Ghebbi
- Versailles
- Imperial Palace
- Ancient Merv
- Palmyra
- Petra
- Persepolis
- Rwenzori Mountains
- Tajik National Park
- Simien National Park
- Great Himalayan National Park
- Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
- Machu Picchu
- Kilimanjaro National Park
- Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines
- Fortified City of Carcassonne
- Great Wall
- Agra Fort
- Robben Island
- Statue of Liberty
- Auschwitz Birkenau
- Vilnius
- Old City of Berne
- Cesky Krumlov
- Brugge
- Cracow
- Dubrovnik
- Liverpool
- Bryggen
- Maritime Greenwich
- Great Barrier Reef
- Cuzco
- Ha Long Bay
- Soltaniyeh
- Selimiye Mosque
- Meidan Emam, Esfahan
- Ilulissat Icefjord
- Virgin Komi Forests
- Tropical Rainforest Sumatra
- Serengeti
- Ngorongoro
- Yellowstone
- Galapagos Islands
- Ancient Kyoto
- Völklingen Ironworks
- Falun Great Copper Mountain
- Ironbridge Gorge
- Grand Canyon
- Ancient Thebes
- Salamanca
- Dengfeng
- Jantar Mantar
- Virunga National Park
- Tassili n'Ajjer
- Namib Sand Sea
- Costiera Amalfitana
- Orkhon Valley
- Kew Gardens
- Persian Garden
- Wadi Rum
- Quito
- Meroe
- Great Zimbabwe Ruins
- Kremlin and Red Square
- Sydney Opera House
- Mount Athos
- Westminster
- Saint Catherine Area
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa)
- Vatican City
- Ravenna
- Lalibela
- Aachen Cathedral
- Göreme NP
- Imperial Tombs
- Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi
- Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
- Taj Mahal
- Pyramids (Memphis)
- Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha
- Mogao Caves
- Potala Palace
- Kathmandu Valley
- Bukhara
- Ping Yao
- Samarkand
- Medina of Fez
- Kairouan
- Medina of Marrakesh
- Damascus
- Historic Cairo
- Timgad
- Dougga/Thugga
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire
- Pont du Gard
- Leptis Magna
- Pompei
- Villa Romana del Casale
- Cyrene
- Agrigento
- Acropolis
- Olympia
- Timbuktu
- Ghadames
- Aksum
- Volcanoes of Kamchatka
- Mount Etna
- Surtsey